Artificial leaf device for hydrogen generation from immobilised C. reinhardtii microalgae

We developed a fully biomimetic leaf-like device for hydrogen production which allows incorporated fabric-immobilised microalgae culture to be simultaneously hydrated with media and harvested from the produced hydrogen in a continuous flow regime without the need to replace the algal culture. Our leaf device produces hydrogen by direct photolysis of water resulting from redirecting the photosynthetic pathways in immobilised microalgae due to the lack of oxygen. In contrast to the many other reports in the literature on batch photobioreactors producing hydrogen from suspension culture of microalgae, we present the first report where this is done in a continuous manner from a fabric-immobilised microalgae culture. The reported artificial leaf device maximises the sunlight energy utilisation per gram of algae and can be upscaled cheaply and easily to cover large areas. We compared the production of hydrogen from both immobilised and suspended cultures of C. reinhardtii microalgae under sulphur, phosphorus and oxygen deprived conditions. The viability and potential of this approach is clearly demonstrated. Even though this is a first prototype, the hydrogen yield of our artificial leaf device is twenty times higher per gram of algae than in previously the reported batch reactors. Such leaf-like devices could potentially be made from flexible plastic sheets and installed on roofs and other sun-exposed surfaces that are inaccessible by photovoltaic cells. The ability to continuously produce inexpensive hydrogen by positioning inexpensive sheets onto any surface could have an enormous importance in the field of biofuels. The proposed new concept can provide a cleaner and very inexpensive way of bio-hydrogen generation by flexible sheet-like devices

Parenting styles and academic procrastination

The present study examined the relationship between the parenting styles and academic procrastination. Three-hundred-ninety- five Shiraz University students (261 girls and 134 boys) were participants of the study. Steinberg's Parenting Styles Scale (2005) and Solomon & Rothblum's Academic Procrastination Scale (1984) were used as measures of the study. Simultaneous multiple regression of academic procrastination total score on the parenting styles subscales, revealed that the “acceptance-involvement” and “psychological autonomy-granting” styles were significant and negative predictor of the academic procrastination, whereas the “behavioral strictness-supervision” style had a significant predict power for the academic rocrastination

SMCKAT, a Sequential Multi-Dimensional CNV Kernel-Based Association Test.

Copy number variants (CNVs) are the most common form of structural genetic variation, reflecting the gain or loss of DNA segments compared with a reference genome. Studies have identified CNV association with different diseases. However, the association between the sequential order of CNVs and disease-related traits has not been studied, to our knowledge, and it is still unclear that CNVs function individually or whether they work in coordination with other CNVs to manifest a disease or trait. Consequently, we propose the first such method to test the association between the sequential order of CNVs and diseases. Our sequential multi-dimensional CNV kernel-based association test (SMCKAT) consists of three parts: (1) a single CNV group kernel measuring the similarity between two groups of CNVs; (2) a whole genome group kernel that aggregates several single group kernels to summarize the similarity between CNV groups in a single chromosome or the whole genome; and (3) an association test between the CNV sequential order and disease-related traits using a random effect model. We evaluate SMCKAT on CNV data sets exhibiting rare or common CNVs, demonstrating that it can detect specific biologically relevant chromosomal regions supported by the biomedical literature. We compare the performance of SMCKAT with MCKAT, a multi-dimensional kernel association test. Based on the results, SMCKAT can detect more specific chromosomal regions compared with MCKAT that not only have CNV characteristics, but the CNV order on them are significantly associated with the disease-related trait

Targeting a channel coating by using magnetic field and magnetic nanofluids

In this paper, the magnetic nanofluids and magnetic field are used to provide a coating around the wall of a channel. The magnetic field is induced by the direct current wire. Iron oxide is used as magnetic nanoparticles. A finite volume method is used to solve the Navier–Stokes equations, and the Eulerian–Lagrangian approach is employed to track the magnetic nanoparticles. The effects of magnetic strength, the position of current wire, and the diameter of magnetic nanoparticles on the trajectory of magnetic nanoparticles and coating efficiency are investigated by providing contours and diagrams. The results show that the length of coating decreases by about 55% with the increase in the particle diameter in the range of 500 nm to 1 μm. Further, the coating efficiency, defined as the ratio of the number of trapped particles on the wall to the number of injected particles at the inlet of the channel, improves by increasing the magnetic strength and decreasing the vertical position of the current wire

A concise review on the role of nanoparticles upon the productivity of solar desalination systems

In recent years, nanofluids have been widely used to improve the performance of various energy systems due to their favourable thermo-physical and optical characteristics. In particular, solar distillation, as an affordable and reliable technique to provide freshwater, has benefited from nanofluid technology. This article performs a review of the literature on the implementation of nanofluid technology in active and passive solar distillation systems. The progress made and the existing challenges are discussed, and some conclusions and suggestions are made for future research. The review indicates that the daily productivities of solar distillation systems enhance by using nanofluid and increasing the volume fraction of nanoparticles. However, long-term operational stability and life cycle assessment remain critical issues. These factors should be considered for future research in this field

Towards Using Probabilistic Models to Design Software Systems with Inherent Uncertainty

The adoption of machine learning (ML) components in software systems raises new engineering challenges. In particular, the inherent uncertainty regarding functional suitability and the operation environment makes architecture evaluation and trade-off analysis difficult. We propose a software architecture evaluation method called Modeling Uncertainty During Design (MUDD) that explicitly models the uncertainty associated to ML components and evaluates how it propagates through a system. The method supports reasoning over how architectural patterns can mitigate uncertainty and enables comparison of different architectures focused on the interplay between ML and classical software components. While our approach is domain-agnostic and suitable for any system where uncertainty plays a central role, we demonstrate our approach using as example a perception system for autonomous driving.Comment: Published at the European Conference on Software Architecture (ECSA

MCKAT: a multi-dimensional copy number variant kernel association test.

BACKGROUND: Copy number variants (CNVs) are the gain or loss of DNA segments in the genome. Studies have shown that CNVs are linked to various disorders, including autism, intellectual disability, and schizophrenia. Consequently, the interest in studying a possible association of CNVs to specific disease traits is growing. However, due to the specific multi-dimensional characteristics of the CNVs, methods for testing the association between CNVs and the disease-related traits are still underdeveloped. We propose a novel multi-dimensional CNV kernel association test (MCKAT) in this paper. We aim to find significant associations between CNVs and disease-related traits using kernel-based methods. RESULTS: We address the multi-dimensionality in CNV characteristics. We first design a single pair CNV kernel, which contains three sub-kernels to summarize the similarity between two CNVs considering all CNV characteristics. Then, aggregate single pair CNV kernel to the whole chromosome CNV kernel, which summarizes the similarity between CNVs in two or more chromosomes. Finally, the association between the CNVs and disease-related traits is evaluated by comparing the similarity in the trait with kernel-based similarity using a score test in a random effect model. We apply MCKAT on genome-wide CNV datasets to examine the association between CNVs and disease-related traits, which demonstrates the potential usefulness the proposed method has for the CNV association tests. We compare the performance of MCKAT with CKAT, a uni-dimensional kernel method. Based on the results, MCKAT indicates stronger evidence, smaller p-value, in detecting significant associations between CNVs and disease-related traits in both rare and common CNV datasets. CONCLUSION: A multi-dimensional copy number variant kernel association test can detect statistically significant associated CNV regions with any disease-related trait. MCKAT can provide biologists with CNV hot spots at the cytogenetic band level that CNVs on them may have a significant association with disease-related traits. Using MCKAT, biologists can narrow their investigation from the whole genome, including many genes and CNVs, to more specific cytogenetic bands that MCKAT identifies. Furthermore, MCKAT can help biologists detect significantly associated CNVs with disease-related traits across a patient group instead of examining each subject's CNVs case by case

Expressing Measurement Uncertainty in OCL/UML Datatypes

Uncertainty is an inherent property of any measure or estimation performed in any physical setting, and therefore it needs to be considered when modeling systems that manage real data. Although several modeling languages permit the representation of measurement uncertainty for describing certain system attributes, these aspects are not normally incorporated into their type systems. Thus, operating with uncertain values and propagating uncertainty are normally cumbersome processes, di cult to achieve at the model level. This paper proposes an extension of OCL and UML datatypes to incorporate data uncertainty coming from physical measurements or user estimations into the models, along with the set of operations de ned for the values of these types.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A Scanning Electron Microscopic Study of the Chick Chorioallantoic Membrane: Cell Death and the Involvement of Oxygen Free Radicals

Cell death is a normal feature within the chick chorioallantoic membrane, occurring principally between days 10 and 14 of incubation. Samples of chorioallantoic membrane were obtained on days 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 of incubation, after the creation of artificial air chambers on day 3. These were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) after staining for acid phosphatase activity, and by light microscopy after demonstrating oxygen free radicals with nitro blue tetrazolium. On day 6, small defects in the plasmalemma, approximately 200 nm in diameter, could be seen by SEM. A sequence of events leading to complete destruction of the plasmalemma, with exposure of the nucleus and other cytoplasmic organelles, could be traced, and by day 8 the membrane was a mosaic of healthy cells and others in various stages of degeneration. TEM revealed that acid phosphatase activity was confined to the golgi apparatus and associated vesicles even in advanced stages of degeneration. By comparison, oxygen free radicals were demonstrated in individual cells from day 6 onwards. Application of superoxide dismutase and catalase to the epithelium using a nebuliser spray significantly reduced the amount of cell death seen by scanning microscopy on day 12. It is concluded that oxygen free radicals may mediate cell death in the chorioallantoic membrane